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Cause and Effect Essay

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Title: Cause and Effect Essay


1
Cause and Effect Essay
  • aka causal analysis

2
Causal Analysis
  • Analyzes
  • 1. why an event or phenomenon happens (causes)
  • 2. what happens because of the event or
    phenomenon (its effects)
  • 3. both causes and effects

3
Actual essay exams at GCC
  • History class Discuss the causes of U.S.
    involvement in the 1991 Persian Gulf War
  • Health class Discuss the relationship between
    diet and heart disease

4
Characteristics of Cause and Effect Essay
  • A thesis
  • A logical organizational plan
  • Development of each cause and effect fully
  • May recognize or dispel readers assumptions
    about the topic

5
Multiple Causes and Effects
  • Several causes may produce a single effect
  • You chose GCC (single effect)for a number of
    reasons, including the availability of your
    courses in your major, the cost of tuition, the
    reputation of the school, and its distance from
    your home (multiple causes)

6
  • One cause may have several effects
  • Your decision to quit your part-time job (one
    cause) will result in more study time, less
    pressure, and less spending money (multiple
    effects)

7
  • Related events or phenomena may have both
    multiple causes and multiple effects. For
    instance, an increase in the number of police
    patrolling the street in urban areas along with
    the formation of citizen watch groups (multiple
    causes) will result in less street crime and the
    growth of small businesses (multiple effects).

8
Chain of Events
  • In some cases, a series of events forms a chain
    in which each event is both the effect of what
    happened before and the cause of the next event.
    OR A simple event can produce a chain of
    consequences.
  • You cannot find your car keys (cause) so you are
    late for class (effect and cause). You miss a
    surprise quiz (effect and cause). youre a quiz
    average is lowered to a B (effect)

9
Purpose of causal analysis
  • Informative, persuasive or both
  • Death of a loved one
  • Sources of the pollution of the Salt River
  • Examination of the causes of academic cheating

10
Clear Thesis Statement
  • Identifies the topic, makes an assertion about
    that topic, and suggest whether the essay focuses
    on causes, effects, or both

11
Causal analysis
  • Follows a logical organization
  • Explains each cause or effect fully
  • Examples, facts, descriptions, comparisons,
    statistics, anecdotes
  • May recognize or dispel readers assumptions
  • Capital punishment not always a deterrent to crime

12
Causal analysis schemes (1) Causes and Effects
  • Introduction (Background information about the
    even or phenomenon, thesis statement)
  • Body Paragraphs
  • Cause A Effect A
  • Cause B Effect OR Cause Effect B
  • Cause C Effect C
  • Conclusion (reminder of thesis and final
    statement or tie in to introduction)

13
Causal Analysis Scheme (2) Chain of Events
  • Introduction (Background information about the
    event or phenomenon, thesis statement)
  • Body Paragraphs
  • Cause A Effect A becomes Cause B Effect B
    becomes Cause C Effect C
  • Conclusion

14
Causal Analysis Scheme (3) multiple causes and
effects
  • Introduction
  • Body Paragraphs
  • Arrangement 1 Arrangement 2
  • Cause A Cause A
  • Cause B Effect A
  • Cause C Cause B
  • Effect A Effect B
  • Effect B Cause C
  • Effect C Effect C
  • Conclusion

15
Integrating cause and effect into an essay
  • 1. use transitions to announce shifts to a causal
    explanation
  • In writing about your college presidents
    decision to expand the Career Planning Center,
    for example, you might introduce your discussion
    of causes by writing, The three primary factors
    responsible for his decision are

16
Integration
  • 2. Keep the causal explanation direct and simple
  • Focus on the most important causes and effects
    not all causes and effects you can think of or
    have found.

17
Integration
  • Emphasize why particular points or ideas are
    important
  • For example, if you are writing a tip sheet on
    using a word-processing program for an audience
    of beginners, you need to explain why it is
    important to save material frequently by warning
    your readers of the effects of neglecting to save
    copy (not a cause and effect essay topic)

18
Integration
  • Include only causal relationships you can support
    and justify.
  • If you dont have evidence to support it, it
    becomes your opinion and its best to omit it.

19
Causal Analysis
  • Consider your purpose, audience, and point of
    view
  • Keep the length of your essay in mind
  • Level of technical detail must be considered
  • Point of view is most often the third person
  • Try to identify primary causes or effects (most
    important)

20
Checking for Hidden Causes and Effects and Errors
in Reasoning
  • Once you identify the primary and secondary
    causes and effects, examine them to be sure you
    have not overlooked any causes and effects and
    have avoided common reasoning errors.

21
Hidden Causes and Effects
  • Example, if a child often reports to the nurses
    office complaining of a stomachache, a parent may
    reason that the child has digestive problems.
    However, a closer study of the behavior may
    reveal that the child is worried about attending
    a physical education class and that the
    stomachaches are the result of stress and
    anxiety.
  • The PE class is the hidden cause.
  • To avoid overlooking hidden causes or effects, be
    sure to examine a causal relationship closely.
  • Do not assume the most obvious or simplest
    explanation is the only one.

22
Mistaking Chronology for Causation
  • Avoid the post hoc, ergo propter hoc (after
    this, therefore because of this fallacy) the
    assumption that because event B followed event A
    in time, A caused B to occur
  • For example, suppose you decide against having a
    cup of coffee one morning, and later the same day
    you score higher than ever before on a political
    science exam.
  • Although one event followed the other in time,
    the first event did not necessarily cause the
    second event to occur. That is, you cannot
    assume that reducing your coffee intake caused
    the high grade.

23
Mistaking Chronology for Causation
  • To avoid the post hoc fallacy, look for evidence
    that one event did indeed cause the other.
    Plausible evidence might include testimony from
    others who experienced the same sequence of
    events or documentation proving a causal
    relationship between the events.
  • For instance, there are numerous examples of
    people who have contracted cancer after smoking
    cigarettes for a number of years as well as
    research documenting the link between cigarette
    smoking and cancer.

24
Mistaking Correlation for Causation
  • Just because two events occur at about the same
    time does not mean they are causally related.
  • For example, suppose sales of snow shovels in a
    city increased at the same time sales of gloves
    and mittens increased. The fact that the two
    events occurred simultaneously does not mean that
    snow shoveling causes people to buy more mittens
    and gloves.

25
Mistaking Correlation for Causation
  • Most likely, a period of cold, snowy weather
    caused the increased sales of these items.
  • Again, remember that evidence is needed to verify
    that the two events are related and that a causal
    relationship exists.

26
Unsupported Assumptions
  • Assumptions are ideas or generalizations that you
    or your readers accept as truths without
    questioning their validity.
  • For example, you may assume that someone you just
    met is honest or that your new mat instructor
    treats all students fairly. Although assumptions
    can be true, in many cases people make sweeping
    generalizations that are untrue and unfair.

27
Unsupported Assumptions
  • For instance, it is unfair to say that senior
    citizens are unproductive members of society
    because the evidence suggests that many seniors
    continue to work or contribute to their
    communities in many ways.
  • Many assumptions are based on stereotypesunfair
    generalizations about the characteristics or
    behaviors of an entire group or class of people
    or things.

28
Gathering Evidence
  • A convincing cause and effect essay does more
    than merely list causes, effects, or both and
    avoid errors in reasoning. Your reader expects a
    complete explanation of each primary cause or
    effect that you include. In order to explain
    your causes and effects, youll probably use one
    or more other patterns of development.

29
Gathering Evidence
  • For example, you may need to narrate events
    present descriptive details about the event,
    problem, or phenomena define important terms
    explain processes unfamiliar to the reader
    include examples that illustrate a cause or an
    effect or make comparisons to explain unfamiliar
    concepts.

30
Developing Your Thesis
  • State the cause and effect relationship. Do not
    leave it to your reader to figure out the causal
    relationship. In the following examples, note
    that the original thesis is weak and vague,
    whereas the revision clearly states the causal
    relationship.
  • Breathing paint fumes in a closed environment can
    be dangerous. People suffering from asthma and
    emphysema are particularly vulnerable.
  • Breathing paint fumes in a closed environment can
    be dangerous for people suffering from asthma and
    emphysema because their lungs are especially
    sensitive to irritants.
  • The revised thesis makes the cause and effect
    connection explicit by using the word because and
    by including necessary information about the
    problem.

31
Developing Your Thesis
  • Avoid overly broad or absolute assertions.
  • They are difficult or impossible to support.
  • Drugs are the root cause of inner-city crime.
  • Drugs are a major cause of inner-city crime.
  • The revised thesis acknowledges drugs as one
    cause of crime but does not claim that drugs are
    the only cause.

32
Developing Your Thesis
  • Use qualifying words. Unless a cause and effect
    relationship is well established and accepted,
    qualify your thesis statement.
  • Overemphasizing competitive sports is harmful to
    the psychological development of young children.
  • Overemphasizing competitive sports may be harmful
    to the psychological development of young
    children.
  • Changing the verb from is to may be qualifies the
    statement, allowing room for doubt.

33
Developing Your Thesis
  • Avoid an overly assertive or a dogmatic tone.
    The tone of your essay, including your thesis,
    should be confident but not overbearing. You
    want your readers to accept your ideas but not to
    be put off by an arrogant tone.
  • There is no question that American youths have
    changed in response to the culture in which they
    live.
  • Substantial evidence suggests that American
    youths have changed in response to the culture in
    which they live.
  • The phrase substantial evidence suggests creates
    a less dogmatic tone than There is no question.

34
Drafting the Cause and Effect Essay
  • 1. Provide well-developed explanations. Be sure
    that you provide sufficient evidence that the
    causal relationship exists. Offer a number of
    reasons and choose a variety of types of evidence
    (examples, statistics, expert opinion, and so on)
    to demonstrate that you correctly perceived the
    relationship between causes and effects. Try to
    develop each cause or effect into a detailed
    paragraph with a clear topic sentence.

35
Drafting the Cause and Effect Essay
  • 2. Use strong transitions. Use a transition
    each time you move from an explanation of one
    cause or effect to an explanation of another.
    When you move from discussing causes to
    discussing effects or when you shift to a
    different pattern of development, use strong
    transitional sentences to alert your reader to
    the shift. Regardless of the organization you
    follow, you need to use clear transitions to
    guide your reader throughout the essay.
    Transitional words and phrases that are useful in
    cause and effect essays include because, since,
    as a result, and therefore.

36
Drafting the Cause and Effect Essay
  • 3. Avoid overstating causal relationships. When
    writing about causes and effects, avoid words and
    phrases that overstate the causal relationship,
    such as it is obvious, without doubt, always,
    and never. These words and phrases wrongly
    suggest that a causal relationship is absolute
    and without exception. Instead, use words and
    phrases that qualify, such as it is possible, it
    is likely, and most likely.

37
Drafting the Cause and Effect Essay
  • 4. Write an effective introduction. Your
    introduction should identify the topic and causal
    relationship as well as draw your reader into the
    essay.

38
Drafting the Cause and Effect Essay
  • 5. Write a satisfying conclusion. Your
    conclusion may remind readers of your thesis and
    should draw your essay to a satisfying close.
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